invite CHANGE

June 7, 2010

Distinctions on the Path from ACC to PCC to MCC

Coach Training, Community of Coaching, Ethics & Professional Conduct, Mentor Coaching,  

After our initial coach training is done and we're on our own with clients, what keeps us on the development path toward more masterful artistry in our coaching? This is a question I often hear and want to offer some insight about it that comes from our development of mentor coach competencies. Bottom line, the competency path is distinguished by a matter of degree in terms of partnership, invitation and trust in the process.

In providing feedback regarding coaching competency, a mentor coach reflects what is already evident in the skill set of the coach, providing concrete examples of how those skills show up. Equally important is an honest assessment of how those competencies can be strengthened and expanded, supporting the coach in moving from the level of expertise they currently demonstrate toward the next level of expertise available to them. This requires that the mentor coach have in-depth knowledge of not only the skills of each competency, but also of the behaviors that mark the distinctions between ACC, PCC and MCC credentials.

Typically, as a coach operates at the ACC level, the coach feels responsible to drive the session and there is a tendency to pose questions that keep the session focused on the situational level, eliciting information and data that is generally known by the client and coaching the circumstances in which the client is immersed.  This level of relating is valuable for clients and opens the door for exploring a level of meaning that is often invisible to a client and usually resides in the realm of emotional and physical reactivity.

At the PCC level of coaching, the coach elicits the client’s intuition and way of learning so that the coach’s questions and reflections become more evocative and begin to explore below the surface of the client’s circumstances so that the client’s relationship to those circumstances can be examined.  Being curious without judgment, meaning to be unconditional with questions, supports a client in considering whether the premise for their actions or the beliefs they act from serves or not.  From this heightened awareness, the coaching provides a space to examine and elect new choices, oftentimes new beliefs and new ways of relating that more fully honor the core values for their life.

At the MCC level, the client is the primary driver of the session. Coach and client are in full partnership, choosing the method and manner for exploring deep into the client’s relationship to the circumstances. At the beginning of a session the coach serves as observer and witness to the client’s thinking and wisdom, continuously learning how best to partner with the client’s process and style. The coach’s intention focuses upon heightening client awareness and clarity so that client choices are aligned with what is most important for their life and choices for sustainable change are adopted.  The degree to which client and coach trust the process and allow a vibrant invitation to explore what is not known, reverently, will serve the partnership in creating a whole that is greater than the sum of the parts.